MRST 224 - Intersectionality in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as HIST 224 and WFQS 224) This course offers a study of the intersections of gender, religion, class, ethnicity, race, and (dis)ability in various medieval and early modern contexts. Authors, genres, critical and theoretical approaches, historical coverage, and themes may vary from year to year.

Topic for 2023/24b: Sex, Power, and Resistance in Renaissance Europe. From the15TH century until the end of the 17TH century, ideas about women and gender fluctuated as European women and men argued about gender identities, particularly the nature of woman. Intersectional in nature, these debates were shaped by questions of class, religion, race, and disability. Literature, treatises, and polemical works reveal how these themes complicated a shift from theological to biological understandings of gender difference. Gender binaries shaped the political discourse of the period, especially since women, such as Isabella of Castile, Elizabeth I, and Catherine de Medici, became powerful rulers, which gave greater urgency to the definition of power and gender. While most accepted the more conventional patriarchal framework, others resisted and challenged normative ideas of gender difference and power writing, legal action, and work, which presented alternatives to patriarchy. Key texts include: Christine de Pizan’s City of Ladies, Poullain de Barre’s On the Equality of the Two Sexes, and The Story of the Marquise-Marquis de Banneville (which explores transgender identity). Mita Choudhury.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS